That is the verdict of Forrester, which said IT staff may need to be prepared to take a greater 'facilitating' role in delivering the customer-facing systems and processes that different departments require - rather than taking the lead on the decisions.

"Instead of 'doing IT to someone', that is to say imposing a system or process on someone, IT departments will increasingly be expected to authorise and help deliver the systems called for by different departments," said Forrester principal analyst Derek Miers.

Miers was speaking to Computerworld UK ahead of Forrester's Business Process Summit EMEA, taking place on 30 November in Hertfordshire.

Customer experience was becoming an ever more advanced art, Miers said, and different levels of the business - from individual departments to C-suite managers - were increasingly expecting technology teams to allow them to lead on system ideas.

The concept of changing a role could be met with some resistance. But Miers insisted that "going with the change" was by far the best move for IT staff to make, instead of resistance to the "inevitable".